Not Even A Nor’easter Could Stop The Armory Show 2026

Over 230 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors later, the 32nd edition of The Armory Show concluded on September 27th at the Javits Center in New York. The nor’easter didn’t stop the crowd of champagne-sipping attendees from coming out in their stylish fall attire to acquire works by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tracey Emin, Jackson Pollock, and a host of others, at prices ranging from a few thousand to a few million.

Judging by crowd size, Spinello Projects was clearly one of the star galleries, with visitors eager to get a closeup of works from first-generation Cuban American artists Elliot and Erick Jiménez. These works allure the viewer, drawing them in with both vulnerability and a promise of the mysterious unknown. The Miami-based gallery sold thirteen pieces from the Jiménez brothers, who are identical twins, at prices ranging from under $10,000 to $20,000 and got a work placed with an institution in New York at a price ranging from $30,000 to $50,000.

Ethan Cohen, also a gallerist in the Focus section, showed works by Jamaican-American artist and photographer Renée Cox. Cox takes famous works from across American history – and Western history, more broadly – and reinterprets them to include Black people in spaces where they would have previously been excluded. The subjects of her works appear comfortable, poised, and at ease with themselves. In the work above, “Cousins At Pussy’s Pond” (2001), she poses members of her own family in a reimagining of artist Edouard Manet’s “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” painting.

Catharine Clark Gallery, based in San Francisco, staged a booth in the Solo section with the work of artist Katherine Vetne. Titled “Between Worlds”, the showing includes drawings that use the metalpoint method & crystal dinnerware that she got from resale sites and fired in a kiln to achieve a melted form. It is Surrealism with a more readily apparent attachment to reality, as it questions our heavy valuing of expensive treasures that appear to be the traditional domain of the upper classes. A poignant question as we continue to trek through the modern age of economic and cultural stratification, and it surely a made an impression with the wealthy patrons at The Armory Show. Eight pieces sold in the price range of $1,500 to $20,000.

DIMIN showed works from eight artists, with five of them showing new pieces. Artist Kelli Vance was one of those showing work from this year. Her work is woman-centered, not being afraid to evoke an atmosphere of sensuality and indulgence that many women yearn for but cannot quite reach in today’s busy world. In “I Like To Remember Things My Own Way” (2026), you see a woman lying on a bed, her shoes beside her as if she were so tired that she couldn’t place them on the floor. A full metal tray of uneaten sweet treats sits on the floor along with two glasses of wine. Or maybe she isn’t tired, but she is just engaging in leisure — being so used to having indulgence right at her fingertips that she doesn’t feel rushed to take in everything at once. This painting is both relatable and a pipe dream to the modern woman.

PENTIMENTI, based in Philadelphia, hosted a Solo presentation of works by artist Namwon Choi. Each of these pieces were hand-painted on wooden panels which, if you look at them up close, you won’t be able to fathom just how the artist managed to pull that off because the images appear so detailed. Choi’s featured artworks are painted representations of photos captured while driving. If you’ve ever been on drives through nature, the environment portrayed will feel all too familiar.

Droste Galladé, in collaboration with Management, showed work by German artist Willehad Eilers. The subjects in Eilers’ artworks appear to have partied too hard, and you could imagine a short story of a drugged out, drunken gathering that starts to take on demonic/supernatural properties. The best thing about these works is that they had a really strong narrative between each piece, yet that narrative might still be different for each person that views it. The two galleries made a sale as I was taking notes, so others must have been creating a story that was compelling to them in the short time that I was there.

OCHI presented a Solo booth of works by artist Cooper Cox. When looking at his work, it could easily be mistaken for that of a Van Gogh acolyte; that would be the impasto coming through. If you’ve ever seen Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, then you’ll see that same technique above in Cox’s “Vantage” (2026). Each of his works at the OCHI booth had so much texture and movement that it was as if the work was alive underneath the surface — especially those like “Fathom” (2026), which were a painting of a building being reflected on the water and (presumably) raindrops rippling outward along the canvas. Collectors admired his work so much that OCHI sold out its booth, with each of the works going at prices from $12,000 to $40,000.

Yiwei Gallery staged a booth dedicated solely to the work of artist Liu Tianlian. Yiwei transformed its space into a three-dimensional New York laundromat that houses works from Liu’s “Laundry Room” series. She uses a traditional Chinese technique called ‘gongbi’, or meticulous brush painting, and she largely works on silk. This series of paintings captures a setting — the laundromat — that Liu associates with immigrant life, herself an immigrant that came to the US in 2023. In her artwork, you can see the eccentricities of everyday city life shine through. Many of these things would frighten those who are afraid of cities because they’d see them as a potential threat.

However, those of us who are used to city life take the strange and unusual occurrences that we encounter every day in stride.

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